Take a look at this photo. In it you’ll see a Catepillar crane demolishing a steel structure. The name of that structure is the Apollo Launch Umbilical Tower. It is being torn down because the paint is contaminating the soil. That’s right, the point at which men left this Earth to touch the Moon for the barest of moments, is being torn down thanks to the paint.
But fuck it, right? Who cares about the space program? Fuck the spin-offs from it. Fuck the dreams of a million children who were inspired by it to grow up and enter college in hopes that they might some day be a part of it. Fuck the billions of dollars which were diverted from buying and developing weapons and were spent on sending a few men to an airless rock. Fuck it all.
While we’re at it, let’s just go ahead and fuck everything that people either don’t like or understand. Fuck religion, fuck politics, fuck science, fuck art, fuck it all.
The Apollo program was killed by Nixon because it was a product of the Kennedy Administration and Nixon hated Kennedy. The greatest success of NASA was shut down because of one short sighted bastard and replaced with the space shuttle which was a known Edsel before it was ever built. Hey, it’s only cost the lives of 14 brave men and women and it made Nixon happy, and that’s what’s important, right? Fuckers.
Even if you hate the space program, you should be enraged by this. You’re a Doper, and this is a piece of history which is being destroyed for the lack of what money Bill Gates probably has in his change jar. There are fucktards out there who insist that the US never went to the Moon, and the destruction of the LUT is only going to add fuel to their fire. Remember, knowledge is also gained by standing where someone else stood, and seeing what they must have seen. Now it’s gone, like the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, The Colossus of Rhodes, The Maussoleum at Halicarnassus, The Great Pharos Lighthouse, The Temple of Artemis, and the Statue of Zeus, which made up the Seven Wonders of the World. Erased for all time, leaving future generations to stare at photographs and wonder if it ever was real.
Bullshit. That’s like saying because the footprints of the WTC are still there, one knows what it’s like to be in the buildings. I’ve been in the WTC, and seeing some square shape on the ground is nothing like standing on the top floor of the thing and feeling the building sway in the breeze.
So history is being erased with the destruction of The Vet in Philadelphia, Tuckerfan?
Actually, bad example, because that place was a pit … but really, look at all the ballparks that have been demolished. History erased with their demolition? Not on your life. The actual structures gone from where they were? Sure. Can you stand in Turner Field where Henry Aaron struck 715? No, because Turner Field got torn down, but I believe home plate is still honored in some way. But 715 didn’t go the way of the dodo, did it?
It’s not being erased. The structure is gone, but enough proof of it and surrounding stories etc. exist to prove to any reasonable inquirer that the stuff happened … and those who thrive on believing we never went to the Moon obviously weren’t convinced by the existence of the structure…
This is the stupidest rant I have ever seen. Not because the topic is so inane, though it is, but because of the level of indignation over this inanity.
Bad example, ‘punha. Whilst I realize that sports are important to a great number of folks, they don’t have quite the same impact as say, Columbus first setting foot in the Americas. The importance of this or that team winning a victory in a particular stadium in, say ancient Greece, Rome, the Americas, is meaningless to us at this date, but what stadiums in those times looked like is important to us. Why? Because we can translate our own feelings of excitement for current sporting events, look out over the field in which Roman gladiators battled one another and catch a scent of what it must have been like to stand there so many centuries ago.
And Eternal? Bite my shiny metal ass! I don’t know what the fuck you care passionately about, but for me, the space program is it. The way the fundie’s feel about God, is how I feel about the space program, ya don’t fuckin’ like it, too goddamn bad for you. I can remember when I was little and the last of the Apollo astronauts were heading towards the Moon, walking outside after dark, looking up at the sky and thinking that there were people up there. To know that a quarter million miles away were three men, crammed into something smaller than the family car, seeing things that I could only imagine, filled me with a sense of awe and wonder that I’ve never had since. We were touching the sky. It was amazing, it was what religion was supposed to be, but never was. And just like so many of the relationships I’ve been in, it all turned to shit before it ever got started. Damn, it pisses me off!
Hey, I can relate. I was 21 when it happened, with a consuming interest in exotic alkoloids and alternative states.
I stayed up for hours watching Walter Cronkite tellling me the astronauts were asleep. My friends did not share my obsession/enthusiasm, they both thought I was a bit nuts.
Don’t get me started on how I lusted and craved for the Hubble to go up, agonizing over every setback and going totally ballistic when the goddam motherfucking llama-felching lenses were screwed up and it would be six months till they could fix it. I chewed up a whole box of ten-penny nails.
I’d probably be willing to sell a kidney to have an authentic moon rock. Not mine, maybe, but you see what I mean…
OH I SEE now that you’ve backed your argument up with cold hard nostalgic childhood memories, I can see perfectly well why it would be a good idea to continue to maintain an obscure landmark that no one but you cares about.
Tuckerfan, from where I’m sitting, all I see is a decrepit metal platform being torn down. I’m pro-NASA and pro-space research, but seriously, some things just aren’t worth saving, and that launch pad is one of them.
I gotta agree with the rest of the crowd on this one. I’m as pro-space as you can be without actually being an astronaut, but I don’t much care that this platform is being torn down. It no longer serves any useful purpose, and is, in fact, a detriment to the surrounding area. Besides, the interesting stuff didn’t happen on this end, it happened up there, and like elucidator said, that monument isn’t going anywhere real soon.
Then again, I’m massively unsentimental when it comes to these sorts of things. It’s the act that was amazing. Historical. Epochal, even. The platform was just a souvenier, and a dangerous and ugly one, at that. It’s just an object, a thing: by it’s nature transitory and disposable. The idea of going to the moon, the act itself, is what’s important, and that is what will live as long as the human race.
FWIW, though, I’m sorry that something you value is being destroyed. Sometimes change sucks.
Let me see if I get this straight. You think an eyesore of a structure that has been deemed hazardous waste and is literally contaminating the earth should continue to contaminate the earth because you had a childhood dream? Have I got that right?
::gets in line behind Eternal to bite your shiny metal ass::
Pad 34 is “actively contributing nothing to the coveted space program” either. Let’s rip that out too.
How about the Liberty Bell? That fucking thing is an eyesore with that damn split up its side. Melt 'er down and make us some more 5.56 casings to help with the war effort, I say.
Dammit, the LUT could be restored, not demolished, and it pisses me off that the government doesn’t care. A priceless piece of history is being destroyed when it doesn’t have to be.
Y’all can bite my fat, skanky, cottage cheese ass when you’re done with Tuckerfan.
…and by the way. iampunha: Comparing baseball to the Apollo program is far and away the most moronic thing I’ve seen on this board, and I’ve been reading since before Wildest Bill was banned.
You’re forgetting 1) The difference between “contributing nothing” and “actively harming the surrounding area” and 2) the difference between landmarks people care about and are worth maintaining and landmarks two people care about and aren’t worth the cost.
I care… but I think that there are other things to be pissed about.
Like how NASA wasted the last Saturn V as lawn sculpture.
NASA’s scientists are great guys. But we’re never going to get into space again with the leadership we have there. It’s time to rebuild the program from scratch.
I also happen to be a big fan of historic artifacts, but keeping the service tower around is/was a bad idea. Management had to dump a significant pile of money into maintaining something that was deteriorating despite the best efforts of the people tasked to maintain it.
That was ultimately Nixon’s doing, because he cut the program. When the prez says no more flights, and you already own the damned thing, what are you going to do? Even if it is a lawn ornament, it too is a money pit, and underwent a big restoration a couple of years ago to keep it from becoming a mountain of rust. It’s cool to see while on tour, but it also sad beyond belief.
Yes, we are great guys. And the process of rebuilding the agency and space program has begun.
The big difference between Pad 34 and the service tower is that what’s left of Pad 34 is concrete that isn’t going anywhere without the use of a fraction kiloton yield nuke, while that tower was built for a 20 year lifespan out of steel that is deteriorating in the salt air.
I’m in line, too. Look, I love abandoned ruins as much as anyone, but there does come a time when ya gotta move on. That’s why mortality is a Very Good Thing - it leaves room for the next generation to build.
In other words, expect to see something even better built there.
Well, Tuckerfan I’m a pretty rabid fan of the space program myself because I was born on July 20, 1969. (And if you’re a big space fan, you know what happened on that date… besides my birth!) So, my entire life has included collecting data, information and trinkets surrounding those events. I completely understand your outrage. (I react this way myself when someone cuts down a tree – any tree. Hey, so sue me, I like trees.)
That said, I don’t know if you’ve been to Cape Canaveral, but the entire area is a wildlife refuge. It’s one of the few places in this country where you can drive around and see bald eagles nesting on top of power poles and such. It’s one of the most pristine and beautiful spots in this state. So, if NASA decided to get rid of hazardous waste, then I’m all for it. We have plenty other symbols, souvenirs and evidence of the Apollo missions. I’d rather not have lead paint leaching into the ground water table than have some rusty old contraption remain so we space-freaks can stare at it once or twice in our lifetimes.
Believe me, the State of Florida has committed far worse atrocities.
Got to agree with the group - the space program is a marvel to me, my favorite part of visiting my relatives in Texas was getting to go to the Johnson Space Center, and I still love going to the space wing of the Museum of Science and Industry here in Chicago.
That being said, when something is a rusting, polluting piece of junk, sometimes the best thing you can do is get rid of it.
